Education is a site of competing and contested ideas. Numerous educational reforms are being proposed or currently underway. In this news story analysis I will be unpacking and critically examining an article writtin by Peter O’Connor in regards that Public education is a treasure we must protect. The perspective I have chosen to also examine the issue is the Progressive Tradition. In this news story analysis I will be describing the educational issue and its contested nature and I will identify and critically examine the underlying values, assumptions and arguments the author is presenting. Continuing from this I will be taking the perspective from the Progressive Tradition and develop an argument using three important ideas from Progressivism to critically exam the educational issue. I will also underpin the possibilities and limitations that Progressivism offers in bringing understanding to this educational issue.
The educational issue and …show more content…
One in particular called “Peter O’Connor: Prepare for war as teachers make a stand for education”(O’Connor 2012). This supports this article about Public Education as a treasure because he has similar values now in this article and the past 2012 article.
The Progressive Tradition is evident throughout this article. O’Connor believes that when Progressive Education was created in New Zealand by Peter Fraser and Clarence Beeby in the 1940’s. Clarence Beeby was a key driver of progressive education in New Zealand from the 1920s to 1940, and then globally from 1940 to 1960. It was said that it was created with the knowledge that “a well-educated citizenry is the greatest defense against the extremism that gave the world fascism”(O’Connor, 2013). This is telling us that if people are educated they are not going to go to the extremes of the political